Game of Thrones comes to VR with Beyond the Wall on HTC Vive

HTC Vive has partnered with HBO to deliver a virtual reality experience based on Game of Thrones. The Beyond  the Wall experience immerses players in Westeros, and it will be available to Viveport Infinity subscribers on May 31.

Viveport Infinity gives players unlimited access and platform-agnostic subscription service for virtual reality for $13 a month. It’s compatible for the HTC Vive and Oculus Rift.

Starting on May 31, “Beyond the Wall” will launch in English in the U.S., Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, the
U.K., and Canada.

Created by Framestore in partnership with HBO, this game transports users to the northern border of The Seven Kingdoms to fight and defend The Wall. Players can test their sword-fighting skills against a terrifying undead polar bear and hoard of wights.

I got a look at a version of this experience at an AT&T store last month. Here’s what I wrote:

I put on the HTC Vive Focus, which is a standalone VR headset. I was standing on a mixed reality platform with a lot of plastic ice around it. And when I went into the VR experience, I was at the gate at the bottom of The Wall. A Ranger from the Night’s Watch was there in the icy corridor. He told me that I needed a sword, and he gave me his. Then he picked up his bow and opened the gate.

In VR, snow blew in through the open passage. And in real life, I was hit with a blast of cold air. It was a pretty cool effect. Then he began walking ahead. I followed him, though I didn’t have to physically move or control the game at all. It was an experience on rails. The blizzard around us grew thicker, and I could only see his footprints in the snow. Then he screamed, and I started moving faster.

Then I got to a bloody spot in the snow. And a giant creature — I think it was a big Direwolf — attacked me. It was like an infected Direwolf, or an undead creature. The ranger shot a fiery arrow at the creature’s head, and it erupted into flame. I took my sword, hit the head, and then my sword was flaming. The creature jumped and attacked me, and when it landed on the ground, the motion platform I was standing on moved. I kept swinging at the wolf again and again.

Finally, it died. Then I followed the blood trail to my companion, who was lying against a rock in the snow. Then he got up in a zombie-like way, and it was clear that he had become a White Walker. He approached me and attacked, and I swung my sword at him.

Then, all of the White Walkers in the mist came forward, attacking me from a few sides. I swung my sword at them over and over, taking them down with a couple of swings. Eventually, they overwhelmed me and killed me. And that was it.

It was a pretty intense experience, mostly because that cold wind was blowing the whole time.